Departure and reunion
by Weiila
Summary: Not part of my Janus Saga series a short story standing alone. About death, life and everything in between. Shows a very special connection between all the leading and some minor characters of the game.


This has, once again, nothing to do with my Janus Saga series.

  
  


Departure and reunion  
  
Late autumn night, 650 AD, Guardia castle.   
Frog coughed again, and as he removed his hand from his lips he immediately tried to hide it from the few people around him. But they had already seen the blood on the darkened, green-brown skin.   
Queen Leene sobbed. Her handkerchief was already soaking wet with all the tears.  
"My liege, shed no tears for this old man..." Frog mumbled and tried to smile a bit.   
"Frog, please don't try to seem strong," the queen said, "it's not worth it."  
The old, dim bulb-eyes tried to focus on the sad king Guardia.   
"Your Majesty, I hope that I have been of help to thee."   
Frog coughed again, and his hands were too weakened to reach his lips now.   
"Like nobody else, my friend," the king said in a choked voice.   
Lenee, her grown daughter Nieva and several of the others in the room gave loud sobs at this. Frog tiredly shook his head.  
"I hath a joyful life, my dear friends," he tried to soothe them.   
But as he said "friends", his heart ached a bit.   
Crono, Marle, Lucca, Robo and Ayla... they weren't there by his deathbed. Ayla was of course dead since many millions of years, and of course Frog hadn't came to her either... but at least Crono and the girls maybe could have made it...?  
No. No, there was no place for accuses. They had destroyed the Epoch, surely. That had been the right thing to do. Or at least they would, in the future... about 350 years from now. Frog almost smiled to himself, but he hadn't the strength. He was tired. It would feel nice to rest now...  
"This is off limits, Sir!" a distant guard said, "only friends of Sir Frog can..."  
"I _am_ a friend of Sir Frog," the harsh voice of an old man abruptly cut in, "now move!"  
Frog tried to remember where he had heard that voice before...   
"Excuse me," it said, "let me through."   
The soldiers carefully moved out of the way for the aged man. Frog blinked, hardly believing his eyes.   
The visitor was tall and wore a dark robe, with the cape over his head. The rain that poured from the skies outside had darkened the cloth and made it almost black. Below the cape was an aged face, carrying both wrinkles and scars. The skin itself had been cruely battered by wind and rain. The right eye was gone; a scar went straight over it from the forehead to the cheek. But the left eye still seemed to glow in red, even though it was solitaire and dimmed by age.   
As the cape was pushed backwards, it unveiled a flood of long, grey hair. But a few parts of it were still blue.   
"Alas, I see time hast threatened thee just as cruel as myself, then..." Frog muttered, and this time he managed to smile a bit.   
"Indeed it has," Magus replied, crossing his arms.   
As always, he carried an aura of strength. Yet it was staggering. Even the former leader of the Mystics was getting old and tired.  
"Hast thee found thy sister?" Frog asked.  
The warlock slowly shook his head.   
"No."   
"I am sorry."  
"Don't be. I'll go search her someplace else, I have done so for almost fifty years."  
Magus sighed.   
"Yet, I believe that there is only one place left to search," he said.   
The dying knight slowly nodded.   
"I see..." he said.   
"Have you got any heir? Of the Masamune and the hero medal, that is."   
"Yes."   
Frog managed to smile again and pointed. Magus turned to look at a grown man, about twenty-five years old. He wore a knight's armor, but not the helmet. On his head was a thick crown of brown hair, and watching his eyes, Magus saw naught but what he had seen in the eyes of Cyrus, Frog and Crono; things he had scorned in his young days and still didn't care much about.   
Magus smiled a bit.   
"Good to hear."  
"He be the son of Tata," Frog unveiled.   
"Good grief..." the warlock said and even smiled a bit, ironically.   
"Excuse me," princess Nieva carefully said, "but may I ask who you are, Sir?"  
Magus turned to her, his eyebrows rising.   
"Could have been Marle, couldn't she?" he slowly said.   
"'Tis most true."   
The warlock abandoned the princess, ignoring her question. He turned to Frog again, instead.   
"I only came to make sure you had everything finished before departing," Magus said, "can't let history screw up now, can we?"  
"That could be the one truth to ever leave thy lips," Frog mumbled.   
He was going to sleep soon. That Magus had been the only of his old allies to show up didn't really matter. Well, it _did_ matter, to be honest. Frog had to admit that he was glad about it, though it could seem strange.   
"To tell you the real truth, I had another thing to do here as well," Magus slowly said.   
"Oh? What would that be?" Frog mumbled.   
Magus was silent for a moment. Then he spoke, and as he did so, he raised his right hand to point at the weakened knight.  
"I grew up here, whether I liked it or not. I guess I might as well die here too. Farewell, Glenn."  
His voice changed into the deep, growling sound of spell-chanting, and a dark stream left his fingers. As it hit the dying Frog, Magus gave a sigh and fell to the floor. The darkness engulfed the knight, but he didn't scream. He didn't have the strength for it, but anyhow there was no pain. It was only a feeling of growing.   
As the darkness disappeared Frog clenched and unclenched his fists a couple of times, feeling the now longer fingers touch the palm, knowing that he would not die as a frog, but as a man. A couple of soldiers had in shock knelt by Magus and carefully shook his shoulders.   
"Dost not bother," Glenn whispered, "he is dead... let me see his face."  
They slowly lifted Magus a bit, and Glenn watched the scarred, relaxed face. At long last, the Prince of Darkness had found peace.  
"I thank thee, Magus..." Glenn whispered, "I thank thee..."  
He looked at king Guardia, who seemed just as naturally shocked as everyone else about both Frog's transformation and his words.   
"Your Majesty," the knight mumbled, "may I ask of thee to give this man a funeral worthy of a warrior? He was lord Magus, that is true, but his real name was Janus of Zeal, brother of Schala."  
King Guardia cleared his throat.   
"Very well, Frog... I mean Glenn."  
"I thank thee. Fare thee well, my friends."  
Glenn gave a shivering sigh and closed his eyes.   
  
Nowhere, never, everywhere, always.   
"Glenn?"  
He looked exactly liked that young man whom the warlock had turned into a frog all those years ago. But the look of agony and tears that Cyrus' death had caused was gone.   
"Magus?"  
He wore his red cloak, the leathery plate covered his torso. His pants were softly purple, a remain of his clothing as prince Janus. His belt was a twisted piece of blue cloth. And his hair was no longer grey, but an eerily blue waterfall.  
They blinked at each other, both realizing that they once more looked young and felt well. Also, one had to notice, they seemed to stand in a warm, softly glowing nothingness.   
"Is _this_ death?" Magus finally said.   
His blood-red cloak flowed silently as he turned to look around. He froze.   
"Oh, my..." Glenn said.   
Two figures were coming towards them, smiling warmly. One was a tall man in a golden armor, the other was a young, blue-haired woman dressed in a softly purple robe.  
"We've been waiting for you for quite some time," Cyrus said as Glenn rushed forward and grabbed his long dead friend's hands.   
"Schala..." Magus whispered.   
She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, and he put his own arms around her in turn.  
"Everything is fine now, Janus," she mumbled, smiling, "I have been promised that this surely won't happen again; we won't have to part. You may not believe it, but I'm proud of you, little brother."  
"Thank you once more for calming my spirit, my friend," Cyrus said.   
"That is nothing to speaketh about," Glenn smiled.   
Magus looked at the two warriors and smirked, but not too scornful.  
"I see that not even death can cure your speech-problem, Glenn."   
"Art thee surprised?" Glenn sneered back.   
"No, actually I'm a bit relieved."   
"Good to hear."  
"We meet again, then," a singing voice said.   
All four spirits turned to see an enormous glowing orb.  
"Oh, I see..." Magus muttered, "you are what we called 'the entity', am I correct?"  
"Yes," the orb smiled, "and now it is time for you to regain the memory of your earlier lives."  
And with those words, it sent a warm wave of light towards the four spirits.   
As soon as there were life, there were souls. Even though they had started as insects and grown to animals through the evolution, to finally reach the first humans...   
65000000 BC...   
"I was _Kino_!?" Glenn stuttered.   
Then he laughed.   
"You got the girl, I see," Cyrus smiled, "I was a Nu, can you believe it?"  
"And I was a woman of the Ioka-tribe," Schala smiled.  
She turned to Magus.  
"How about you, brother?"  
"None of your business..." Magus muttered.   
The three others looked at him.   
"Come now, lord Magus," Cyrus said, "I admitted I was a Nu. It can't be worse than that..."  
"Indeed it can."   
Glenn looked at the warlock's soul, frowning (if spirits could do such a thing). Then his jaw suddenly dropped.   
"Magus," the knight slowly said, "tell me not that thee was Azala the reptite...?"  
The warlock gave a cold smile.   
"I see now why I hated you so deeply, you little pest," he said.  
Glenn gave a short laugh.   
"I do hope we dideth not fight our way through the whole history..."   
He suddenly thought about something.   
"If I was Kino..." he slowly said, "where is Ayla's soul?"  
"She is still alive in 650 AD," the entity answered, "and I think you know her well even in your last life. Souls very often follow each other, you see."  
"Lenee...?"  
"Indeed. And your next life... and next, and next..."  
Memories flowed softly into Glenn's soul. He was a fox, a chief, a hunter, a swallow, an earthbound one in 12000 BC...  
At the last point he caught and held a memory that came to him. He saw Crono, Marle and Robo grimly walk towards the beast's lair, aiming for the mountain of Woe. With his young voice he tried to warn them, but they only looked kindly down at him and smiled. As the child he had been, he had not known anything else than that nobody returned from the nest. He smiled. Those three people would return...  
Growing up, finding love... Ayla's soul drifted close to his many times, in different bodies all the time. She had slightly different personalities all the time, but so had he. Cyrus, Magus and Schala were also there somewhere, most of the time. But Ayla/Lenee was there all the time, loveable... Glenn smiled again.   
Life after life after life... a lot of painful memories, but also many happy once. That's life.   
And at long last, he experienced everything in his life as Glenn and Frog. Cyrus, Magus, Ozzie, Lenee, Crono, Marle, Lucca, Robo, Ayla, the Masamune, Lavos...   
Glenn frowned. Ayla... Lenee... Marle...?  
Putting them beside each other, they seemed to combine in his memory, becoming... all the same spirit.   
"Oh, my..." he mumbled.   
There was something with Robo and Lucca too, something that no living being could think of. Only spirits could discover something like this. They weren't the same soul, but they were familiar...  
"Hideous!" Magus exclaimed, smiling broadly.   
He had understood as well.   
"I was with you all the time against Lavos, Janus," Schala smiled, "or rather, I will be. I'm not reborn yet."  
"But where do I come in?" Magus said, "there is no more room for me..."  
"There will be," the entity smiled, "you'll see. Because of your help against Lavos, I have decided to never allow that you are parted from Schala's soul like you were last time, Janus of Zeal."   
"No wonder we made such a team, eh?" Cyrus smiled.  
He laughed and seemed to drift away.   
"I will see you in the future, Glenn! And you too, Magus and Schala!" he called and was gone.   
"Good luck, but I guess I don't have to say that for real, huh?" the entity smiled.   
Glenn felt the light softly move up around him. Another life awaited.   
"I guess I will only be at your side as Magus," the warlock's soul smiled, "so give Lavos a few extra hits from my soul, you two."  
"Bye for a while, Janus," Schala called with a warm smile.  
The light was everywhere, warm, smoothing, welcoming...  
  
Season unknown, Proto dome, 2300 AD.  
He removed the lock from his scanning censors. There was a young man with pointy hair, a blond woman in the man's age with a ponytail and not appropriate clothing, and another young woman with a helmet with big glasses. None of them wore clothes of a type stored in his database.  
"Good morning," the blond woman said.  
"Mo..." he murmured.  
Memory damaged. Repairing as much as possible... complete.  
"Good morning, mistress," he said, "what is your command?"  
"I'm not your 'mistress'," the young woman smiled, "I'm Marle."  
She turned to the young man.  
"... And this is Crono..." turned to the other woman, "and Lucca, here, fixed you up."  
He turned to bow at the last one.   
"Understood. Madam Lucca fixed me."   
Lucca shook her head.   
"Just Lucca will do," she said.   
Minor error...   
"Impossible," he kindly explained and moved the upper part of his head, "that would be rude."   
"Look, I hate formal titles!" Lucca said and looked at her friends with a peculiar smile, "don't you, Marle?"   
The blond woman giggled, as if she found something amusing about the words.   
"Hate 'em!" she said.   
Follow suggestion. Memory update...   
"I understand, Lucca," he said.   
Lucca smiled at him.   
"All right," she said, "now what's your name?"   
"Name?"   
Ordered unknown. Serching memory for resembling... completed.   
"Ah, my serial number. It is R66-Y."   
"R66-Y?" Lucca repeated, smiling broadly, "cool!"   
"No!" Marle said, "that won't do at all! Come on, Crono, let's give him a better name."   
The young man was silent at first. Then he said:  
"How about 'Robo'?"  
"Robo... Robo..." Marle said, testing the word, " that's perfect."  
She smiled at him.  
"Your new name is Robo, OK?"  
Store memory...  
"I am... Robo. Data storage complete"  
If he'd have lips, he'd maybe been smiling without knowing why. These people seemed strangely familiar to him, though Robo couldn't find them in his memory circuits.   
Robots normally didn't have a soul. But this robot was special. And he had been a Nu, a hunter's companion, a fox and a knight slain by a warlock in earlier lives, to name a few.  
  
Midsummer, 1002 AD, town of Truce.  
Marle rushed past the many houses, ignoring the strange looks she got from the people she passed.   
"Lucca, Lucca, Lucca...!" she yelled as the inventor suddenly came out from one of the shops.  
"What is it, Marle?" Lucca said.   
The princess halted for half a second, then walked on, faster and faster.  
"Come, Lucca!" she shouted, "we have to see Crono right away!"  
The inventor-girl didn't understand at all, but hurried after her friend.   
"What's wrong?" Lucca called, "you look like you've seen a ghost!"   
"Not exactly," Marle yelled, "but sort of!"   
"What?"  
Princess Nadia, aka Marle, reached Crono's house and knocked once. Without waiting for any form of answer from inside, she swung the door open and rushed inside.  
"Crono!"  
Lucca came into the house just in time to see the aquarellic green, lose pants disappear up the stair.   
"What's happening, dear?" Crono's mom asked, concerned, "is something wrong with Marle?"  
"I don't know..." Lucca began.  
Marle came rushing down the stair, with Crono's hand in her. He staggered down the stair behind his girlfriend, and was more or less dragged outside.  
"Come on, Lucca!" the princess yelled.   
"What's happening, Marle?" Crono shouted.   
"I have to show you..." she gasped, sounding almost as if she was sobbing, "hurry!"  
"But what is..."  
"You'll understand!"  
  
Midsummer, 1002 AD, cemetery of Truce, royal plateau.   
"Oh, my..." Lucca mumbled.   
"I never considered that he actually would be gone..." Marle mumbled, "I knew, but... and I only came to give mother some flowers... just happened to look closer and..."  
Her voice trailed off.  
It was a humble cross. Simple, yet somehow friendly and trustworthy. Which was amazing, due to the fact that it was the cross of a tomb.   
The text said:  
  
Glenn Swordsman   
576 - 650 AD  
Guardian of queen Lenee, known as Frog, wielder of the Masamune   
We will miss you, friend  
Rest in peace  
  
Marle had stopped in the forest and told her two friends to pick two bouquets of flowers. Now she and Lucca put one each on Frog's tomb. Crono stood still, watching the graves.  
"What are you thinking?" Marle carefully asked.   
"That... it's strange..." Crono slowly said, "but I always had a strange feeling when I was around Frog... as if I'd always knew him, could read his mind before he spoke. I even started thinking in his way of speaking for a while... hardly noticing it..."  
He looked up and said, rather embarrassed:   
"I know it sounds weird..."   
Marle and Lucca said nothing at first. Then Lucca said:  
"No, it doesn't sound weird... maybe there's a logical reason, but I don't want to think of such a one..."  
"What?" Marle carefully asked.   
"When we..."  
Lucca shook her head and stared at the ground.  
"When we were in the Ocean Palace and Schala... I was shocked by Crono's disappearance, yet it seemed to me like I wanted to cry for Janus, queen Zeal and the kingdom itself too. But not for Schala... it's strange... no, I don't know what I'm saying."  
She shuddered.   
"And we didn't even know about Janus being thrown into a Gate then!" she muttered, uneasy, "just the shock, I'm sure that's it."  
But it did not sound as if she was sure.  
The three young people were silent for a moment.   
"Me and Ayla always went well together," Marle finally mumbled, "I was always so excited when she went into battle... it was as if I was with her all the time. And look at that..."  
She pointed at the grave beside Frog's.   
  
Queen Lenee, King Guardia XXI's wise and beautiful queen  
585 - 662 AD  
We will meet again beyond the portal  
Rest in peace  
  
"If she had been killed by Yakra, I would have been..." Marle mumbled.   
Crono wrapped his arms around her.   
"You always had a special bond," he softly said.   
"But you know..." Marle slowly whispered, "I don't think that it really was... death... when I disappeared. I've been thinking about it... and it was somehow wrong. I can't explain it."  
"Well, you wasn't really dead," Lucca said in a low, soft voice, "you just wasn't born..."  
"And thank God we managed to save you," Crono said and stroke Marle's cheek with his fingers.   
The princess hugged him tightly. When she slowly released him, Crono sat down on one knee and placed one of his clumsily put together bouquets on Frog's grave. He had never been good at picking flowers, but he knew that Frog would have felt the will was more important than the result.  
"Rest in peace, my friend," he mumbled, and suddenly felt a peculiar bubble in his chest, almost as a laughter. He was amazed to find something like that in a moment like this, but the feeling faded as soon as it had came.  
He stood up, slowly.   
"Marle, what's the other boquette for?" Lucca carefully asked.  
The blond girl shuddered.   
"That's so strange, but... look here."   
She sat down by the tomb on the other side of Frog's. Grass had been growing on it, but some of it had been ripped off and bent aside. It seemed as if Marle had been going berserk on the grass for a moment as she had seen the grave, probably angry about that nobody had cared about it for such a long time. There were moss and long dead grass below the green plants; nobody had taken care of the tomb in ages.   
Nobody had cared, since there'd been none who dared, or felt that it was their business.  
"Oh..." Crono whispered.   
"But... but...?" Lucca stuttered, "how?"   
Marle had bent the grass aside again, and there were tears in her eyes.   
"Look!" she sobbed, "nobody's even taking the grass from his grave! It's not fair!"   
  
Janus of Zeal, brother of Schala  
Also known as Lord Magus  
? - 650 AD   
Turned Sir Frog/Glenn back to a human with his last breath  
May God save your soul and give you a second chance  
  
Lucca fell to her knees and grabbed the grass, ripping it away as if it was a virus trying to destroy the grave completely.   
"It's true! Not fair!" she sobbed, "he was always alone... why doesn't anybody care for his memory?!"  
Crono sat down and helped the two young women to clean the area.   
"Alone..." the male one of the three mumbled, "yes, that's what he was. A monster and a murderer, but our ally and... alone."   
They removed all the grass and moss, carefully not to make a mess. Then they placed their flowers on the earth. Marle picked a dry flower from the side of the road and opened the cocoons of its seeds above the grave. The seeds fell on the dark earth, and the princess carefully pressed them below the surface.   
"It's a Morningglory-dwarflily," Marle explained in a low voice, "also known as Forgiveme. They'll start growing and cover him... much better than grass, right?"  
"That's wonderful, Marle," Lucca said in a thick voice.   
They sat silent for a moment. Then they stood up and left the cemetery without another word. Somewhere along the way, Marle wrapped her arm around Crono's waist, and he draped his arm around her shoulders. Lucca walked in her own thoughts. Funny how life was. Marle had found the graves of one dear friend and somebody who had been on the brink of not even being an ally, yet somehow a distant friend... and now Marle and Crono sought for comfort together, as the couple they were. They wouldn't forget, they would feel the loss. Lucca would too. But life went on. Those words made Lucca think about her mother, and felt a small twirl in her chest.   
Lara was pregnant. Lucca would soon have a brother or sister.   
'A brother,' she thought, 'it'll be a brother.'  
She was sure. How, she didn't know. But it would be a brother, and that's that. She had somehow always known that she would have a smaller brother. It just felt right.  
Crono softly gave Marle's shoulders a squeeze.   
Frog... Magus... but it was only life. They had found peace, and hopefully a bright afterlife. Crono carried the strong belief that Magus' crimes could be forgiven because of his reasons and his importance in the battle against Lavos. That had to be considered, or else there was no justice at all. And Crono believed in justice.   
'Be well, my friends,' he thought.  
There was the strange bubble in his chest again. He allowed it to become a smile.   
Marle thought about how Frog had helped Crono and Lucca save her from non-existence, and how she had seen Magus for the first time. He had been about to create Lavos, at least that had been what she had thought that time. Then... his story was shocking, so filled with pain and loss.   
'Please, let him have found Schala... he didn't deserve his destiny,' she thought, 'nobody would have...'  
She hadn't really trusted him as they had worked together, but even though his intentions might have been egoistic, he had been vital in the battle against Lavos. They had needed him. Maybe he had known that, and maybe it could have touched his frozen heart.   
'Thank you for everything, Magus and Frog. Rest in peace,' she softly thought.   
She noticed that Crono looked at her, and tried to smile at him. But the feeling of loss still held its grip around her heart. It needed to stay there for a while, to soothe the memories.  
Crono touched Marle's cheek, with the movement telling her that she didn't have to try being brave in a moment like this. He didn't feel very strong either right then.   
It was getting late. The three friends parted, and they went to their homes.   
"What was that all about, dear?" Crono's mum asked as he stepped inside of the house.  
"Marle just found..."   
Crono hesitated. Then he decided to tell his mother.   
"She had found the graves of two of our friends. Frog and Magus."  
"Oh, that's sad to hear, dear."   
His mum gave him a hug.   
"Well, you know what I always believed," she warmly said, "that one doesn't stay dead for long, new lives await the soul."  
Reincarnation...  
"It's a nice thought, mum," Crono nodded with a smile.   
"Yes," she smiled and pointed at the five cats on the coach, "look, maybe that pale one, what was his name, Magus, is Macavity now? How about it?"  
Crono had to laugh at that.   
"Well, I guess a red tiger-striped cat isn't exactly Magus' style..." he said and hugged his mum, "but thanks, I feel much better."  
"That's good to hear, dear. Now have some dinner before it gets cold."  
A while later, Crono went up to his room and lay down on his bed. For a while he thought of nothing and everything all at the same time. Then he bent down and reached under the bed. One of the sleep-wagon's legs had a loose piece of wood, but only Crono knew about it. As a kid, he had hid all kinds of stuff there, things he had found treasures and wanted to keep secret. Some of those things had begun to smell after a few days, and a couple of times his mum had been close to discovering the hiding place.  
There was a small box there now, and it would definitely not smell. Crono carefully grabbed it and then sat up in his bed, leaning his back against the wall. He took a deep breath and slowly opened the small box. Two golden rings glistened in the evening sun. It had taken him half a year to even dare to buy them. Then he had gone to the village of Medina to get the rings, where the pe... well, monsters didn't know him. So that nobody would find out.  
He would ask her tomorrow. This time he would. For sure. What's to fear? Crono sighed.   
He had told himself that he "would ask tomorrow". For a whole year he had thought about it. He never dared to. What if...?   
No "what if". For all the good powers, he had faced monsters hundreds of times! Could it be worse to propose?  
_YES_!   
He would have needed someone to lean against. Not Lucca... she was a girl... woman too. And there was only his mum... his dad was gone since he'd been a kid. Crono's thoughts went back to Frog and Magus. Ayla was also gone. And also...  
He shook his head. Think like that and you'll go crazy! They could be alive, they _were_ alive... in another time.   
"I need some support..." Crono mumbled.   
_You're asking _me_ for support in such a question?_  
It was almost as hearing Magus' harsh voice, and his imagined words were followed by a very short, dry laugh.   
_I am not some kind of cherub with a bow, you know. Do you think that I'd even care?_  
Crono smiled. Magus would maybe not use those exact words, but close enough.   
"Imagine that one could actually _miss_ you, you psychopath," the young man mumbled.   
_Order your slices fast, because otherwise I'll start cutting you in as many pieces as I myself find satisfying, boy._  
_Dare to touch a hair on his head and I wilst useth Masamune for its true purpose, dark wizard._  
Crono felt that bubble again as he imagined Frog's voice. Yes, that was exactly what Frog would say... simple, direct, honest.  
_He's an idiot,_ Magus' imaginary voice said, _he's asking _us_ about how he should be brave enough to propose to Marle._  
_'Tis so? Crono, thy heart is brave in battle, yet it fears to touch another soul. 'Tis honorable, my dear comrade, it proves thy strength._  
"How can that be?" Crono asked, puzzled.   
_Even I know that,_ Magus sneered, _courage in battle is completely different from courage in feelings. I killed all feeling to become a stronger warrior. Do you understand my point, boy?_   
"I see..." Crono mumbled.   
He suddenly thought about something.  
"But Magus, you still loved Schala. Admit that."  
His imagination could not create an answer, because he knew that Magus wouldn't have said anything at that.   
_The silence speaketh the truth,_ Frog grinned.  
Why _did I choose a frog? What's wrong with worms, really...?_ Magus thoughtfully snapped.   
Crono smiled again. Magus and Frog would never change, whether they were real or imagined.   
"I guess you choose a frog because Ozzie was suggesting the spell," Crono teased.   
He would earn a tiny, cold smile for that, for sure. And Frog would snort but smile a bit anyhow, probably.   
_Getting back to the subject,_ Magus said, _if you don't even dare to propose to Marle, then I'm ashamed about that I fought on your side against Lavos, coward.  
'Tis not a matter of that kind of courage, using thy own words,_ Frog pointed out.  
_Close enough._  
Frog laughed.   
_Take thy chance, my comrade,_ he said, _take our advice and go to thy love with thy question. Alas, now I haveth been aided in another task by Magus... such a shame.  
You don't know anything about shame, you pathetic insect-eater. I had to team up with a group of weaklings in order to fight my enemy.  
Alas, poor evil wizard..._ Frog smirked.   
Crono looked out of the window. It was midsummer, the sun would stay up the whole night. He didn't know how late it was. But what the heck...  
"Thanks guys," Crono smiled and put his feet on the floor, "I'm sorry I couldn't invite you to the wedding."  
_Maybe we will be there anyhow,_ Magus said, and Frog gave a short laugh, _maybe we will..._  
"Where are you going, dear?" Crono's mum asked as he tried to put on both shoes at the same time.  
He looked up with glistening eyes and held up his right hand. A small box rested in his palm.  
"I'm going to propose to Marle, mum!"  
"Oh, that is wonderful, dear! I'll cook the wedding meal, don't worry about that..."  
"Thanks, mum! Bye!"  
There were still some people around outside. That showed that it wasn't very late after all. But it didn't matter. If Marle had gone to sleep already, Crono would break into her room. Nothing could stop him now. Not even Lavos would have stood a chance. This time, he _would_ do it.  
  


The end.  
  
Normally I never write stuff like this. But I guess that there are times when everyone feels like they want to create something a bit bittersweet.


End file.
